Unconditional Love

I just returned home from a visit to Minneapolis. Hard to understand the reason a relatively sane person might travel to such a cold place in December, but there was a logical reason. Minneapolis is the home of my middle daughter, Jamie and her family. Her family includes my favorite two year old - my granddaughter Mia. I actually went to the tundra because Mia's 2nd birthday was December 14th. I am her long distance Bubbe (Yiddish for grandmother) and do not see her very often. My last visit with her was in early May.

Much of my contact with Mia prior to this visit has been listening to her say "no" when I am talking to Jamie and she asks Mia if she wants to talk to Bubbe. Needless to say, I was a bit concerned as to how she would react when Bubbe showed up to stay at her house. Jamie assured me that Mia knew Bubbe was coming for her birthday, but I still entertained a nagging doubt.

Well, I now know that there was no need to be concerned. Mia and Bubbe did quite well together. I found her to be charming, adorable, bright, and quite loving. She is quite a "sponge" and picked up things we talked about quite quickly. We bonded, laughed, acted silly, played with puzzles, colored, and watched animals on tv.

Mia stayed home from "school" (aka daycare) two of the three weekdays I was visiting. That meant that for those two days, it was just Bubbe and Mia. Since it has been about 26 years since I last chased after a two year old, I found the first day to be quite exhausting. By approximately 3:30 pm we called Mommy to see what time she would be home from work. Bubbe needed a nap! The next day, which happened to be Mia's birthday, it was decided that she should go to school to celebrate her birthday with her friends and give Bubbe a chance to rest up for that evening's planned excursion to see "Disney on Ice". Bubbe pretty much vegged out for the day.

The lesson I took from this visit is that Mia epitomized unconditional love. While it was very easy for Bubbe to love Mia unconditionally for being the cute, adorable, bright little girl that she is, Bubbe found out that Mia was very giving of unconditional love. Except for a few "crabby" moments, she always had a smile on her face. She laughed often, was very willing to give hugs and kisses, and shared her toys with me. She was open to asking for help when she needed some and also helped show Bubbe how to work the toaster and a few other appliances around the house. There was no "bartering" for her affection. Mia was an absolute pleasure to be with, despite the exhaustion that went along with playing with her for 2+ days.

I realize now that as a parent, I missed experiencing the unconditional love of a small child. Being a parent meant being totally responsible for every aspect of my childrens' care. While I was much younger when I was caring for my small children, I was unaware of the spiritual aspect of the relationships with my children. I just made it through the day, every day, doing the best I could. I now realize that I missed a whole lot. But I cannot change what was and can only work toward cementing good, spiritual relationships with my now adult children and hope for more great visits with Mia and eventually more grandchildren to visit and bond with in a new, more spiritual way. And now I know why most grandparents say it is so much easier to be the grandparent because at the end of the day (and even sometimes before the end of the day), the parents get to take over! Namaste!

For pictures of my visit to Minneapolis, feel free to visit my Picasa website:
http://picasaweb.google.com/terisandler/MinneapolisVisitWithMia#